Ode to the Great Felixstowe Mystery (Update)

NeutralObserver

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Saturday May 03, 2008 · 3:36 AM PDT

2008/05/03 · 03:36

Last weekend I posted this diary The Great Felixstowe Mystery. Today I can add one my stanza to my ode to update it.

The RN EOD found the object on the sea floor and before a watching crowd destroyed it in a spectacular plume of spray.

My update is below the fold.

NeutralObserver

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Friday April 25, 2008 · 7:02 AM PDT

2008/04/25 · 07:02

I thought you all might need a slight diversion from the red-heat (or should that be blue-heat) of the Clinton/Obama race.

Over the last week, here in the East of England, we have been expectantly following the saga of the Felixstowe bomb (of WW2 variety). Felixstowe is a resort and major container port on the east coast of England, about 50 miles north of the River Thames.

It was found by workmen repairing the sea defences on Tuesday and has been the subject of much local interest ever since, until that is the Royal Navy EOD specialists lost it in to a tidal stream after they had towed it out to sea. As of today they are still searching for it, with underwater robots etc, the full panoply of active mine hunting, for a bomb that was dropped 60 years ago and may be a very damp squib.

Last night my muse for extremely bad verse overcame me and the following is the result.

NeutralObserver

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Tuesday August 22, 2006 · 12:11 PM PDT

2006/08/22 · 12:11

This is not a GBCK or a GBCW diary, it is a thank you and a promise — or threat if you prefer.

I came to dKos in the spring of 2004. As a Brit living in Germany I was completely ignorant of who was who in the run-up to the Democrat Party primaries. From a friends blog I learnt of Billmon and following a link from his blog-roll I came here.

Here I learnt more about American politics here in 6 months from May to November than in the previous fifty years of my life. Read More

DailyKos and advertising

NeutralObserver

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Thursday June 22, 2006 · 3:49 AM PDT

2006/06/22 · 03:49

I was surprised to find a couple of diaries recently that were questioning, again, the use of advertising here and the possible conflicts it raises.

Now I am, like my name, neutral in this issue. Why? Well I am not American, I do not live in the USA and so all the advertising here is irrelevant to me, which is why I block it.

Over at European Tribune I do not block the ads because it is relevant to me.

What I would like to raise though is the contrary argument of why advertising is good for this site. Read More

Books that Changed Me

NeutralObserver

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Friday March 24, 2006 · 1:44 PM PST

2006/03/24 · 13:44

The smooth British broadcaster and intellectual pundit, Melvyn Bragg is publishing a new book in April, Twelve Books that Changed the World.

As the blurb at Amazon says:

In his fascinating new book accompanying the "ITV" series, Melvyn Bragg presents a vivid reminder of the book as agent of social, political and personal revolution. "Twelve Books that Changed the World" presents a rich variety of human endeavour and a great diversity of characters. Here are famous books by Darwin, Newton and Shakespeare - but we also discover the stories behind some less well-known works, such as Marie Stopes' "Married Love", the original radical feminist Mary Wollstonecraft's "A Vindication of the Rights of Woman" - and even the rules to an obscure ball game that became the most popular sport in the world..

It is deliberately aimed at not just books in English, but British books.

Yes this is another diary about books. Read More

Words that are timeless

NeutralObserver

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Saturday July 09, 2005 · 1:39 PM PDT

2005/07/09 · 13:39

Could this be an Afghani or an Iraqi speaking?

As I write, highly civilized human beings are flying overhead, trying to kill me.
They do not feel any enmity against me as an individual, nor I against them. They are `only doing their duty', as the saying goes. Most of them, I have no doubt, are kind-hearted law-abiding men who would never dream of committing murder in private life. On the other hand, if one of them succeeds in blowing me to pieces with a well-placed bomb, he will never sleep any the worse for it. He is serving his country, which has the power to absolve him from evil.

NeutralObserver

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Friday May 06, 2005 · 2:11 PM PDT

2005/05/06 · 14:11

No, this is not a diary about Republicans. It is not a diary about politics at all; it is another Friday feel-good diary.

During the week I was chatting with OMIR the Storyteller and we were swapping stories and one experience from childhood came back to me. It was one of those moments when a child embarrasses adults. In my case it was a question, but it can also be a statement, that causes the grown-ups to go red in the face, laugh nervously and even perhaps stammer out a `soft' answer.

My tale is below the fold. Read More

The hole in the heart of Africa

NeutralObserver

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Saturday April 09, 2005 · 7:58 AM PDT

2005/04/09 · 07:58

A day after the Pope's funeral and the day of the wedding in England, I went to the BBC as usual to read the headlines.

The following headline made me stop,

Secret atrocities.
How the violence in DR Congo has taken a sinister turn

More below the fold. Read More

The Worst Job I Ever Had

NeutralObserver

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Saturday January 29, 2005 · 12:15 PM PST

2005/01/29 · 12:15

The Worst Job I Ever Had

I was listening again to an old LP in my collection, Derek and Clive, Peter Cooke and Dudley Moore on this exact theme.

So on the lines of pastorDan's 'What's my F-ing Problem', I open this thread to 'The Worst Job I Ever Had'.

(link to site with MP3 files of the Pete & Dud classic)

My story below the fold... Read More

Once Upon a Time in America (Observer UK)

NeutralObserver

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Sunday September 05, 2004 · 10:38 AM PDT

2004/09/05 · 10:38

Liberal American Authors speak

For once in Germany I paid the high price for an English Sunday newspaper and found a very thoughtful article in the magazine section.

I have only read two of the books by the authors in the article, in fact I'd only heard of three of them.

The article is here Once Upon a Time in America.

The rest below the fold. Read More

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Ode to the Great Felixstowe Mystery (Update)

Ode to the Great Felixstowe Mystery

I shall return.

DailyKos and advertising

Books that Changed Me

Words that are timeless

Red Faces

The hole in the heart of Africa

The Worst Job I Ever Had

Once Upon a Time in America (Observer UK)